M. Carey Satterfield

TL;DR: The results of both experimental and clinical studies indicate that Arg is a nutritionally essential amino acid (AA) for spermatogenesis, embryonic survival, fetal and neonatal growth, as well as maintenance of vascular tone and hemodynamics and novel and effective therapies for obesity, diabetes, and the metabolic syndrome.

TL;DR: Work with young pigs (a widely used animal model for studying infant nutrition) has shown that supplementing 0.1% proline to a proline-free chemically defined diet dependently improved daily growth rate and feed efficiency while reducing concentrations of urea in plasma.

TL;DR: Recent studies indicate that l-arginine supplementation stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis and brown adipose tissue development possibly through the enhanced synthesis of cell-signaling molecules as well as the increased expression of genes that promote whole-body oxidation of energy substrates.

TL;DR: Arginine plays an important role in conceptus (embryo and extra-embryonic membranes) development in pigs and sheep as mentioned in this paper, and it has been shown that dietary supplementation with 0.83 % L-arginine to gilts consuming 2 kg of a typical gestation diet between either days 14 and 28 or between days 30 and 114 of pregnancy increases the number of live-born piglets and litter birth weight.

TL;DR: Much work is needed with animal models to understand the basic mechanisms responsible for the roles of specific nutrients in fetal and neonatal programming, and to design effective therapeutic strategies for preventing and treating metabolic abnormalities in offspring born to mothers with a previous experience of malnutrition.